Hasta La Creative!

At the end of February, W+K Portland released an ad for Nike Golf called “Why Change?” featuring Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, among a host of other athletes. Now, Woods and McIlroy are back for a new spot, released in 60 and 120-second versions, exploring the nature of athletic idols inspiring young athletes.

The ad, entitled “Ripple” tells the story of McIlroy as a dedicated young golfer who looks up to Woods as his hero. He watches Woods on TV with hypnotic awe, and practices his game relentlessly. A young McIlroy hits a plastic ball around the house, as he ages he is so devoted to the game he’ll practice driving in the pouring rain and beg his father to let him hit a few more as it gets dark. It ends with McIlroy now a proffesional golfer, playing alongside his idol. While “Why Change?” took a humorous approach, complete with sarcastic narration from Key & Peele’s Keegan-Michael Key, “Ripple” instead goes for emotion, based on the insight that athletic idolatry creates a ripple effect, with one generation inspiring the next.

“It’s been an incredible journey for me, going from massive fan to competitor,” said McIlroy, in a statement. “To think that not too long ago I was that little boy watching him on TV to where I am now. It’s been a cool journey and I’m very lucky I get to compete with and against him, because he inspired me as a kid and he inspires me now. He’s the best player I’ve ever seen.”

“I’ve been in that same situation,” added Woods. “Growing up, Jack [Nicklaus] was my idol. My first recollection of The Masters was 1986, when Jack won. I remember him making a putt at 17 and lifting that putter up. Fourteen years later at the 2000 PGA Championship, I got to play with and against him – someone I looked up to.”

(The campaign is particularly relevant given the fact that Woods fell out of the Official World Golf Rankings’ Top 100 last week for the first time since 1996.)

Credits:

W+K PORTLAND

Creative Directors Chris Groom / Stuart Brown

Copywriter Brock Kirby

Art Director Derrick Ho

Producer Jeff Selis

Interactive Strategy Reid Schilperoort

Strategic Planning Andy Lindblade / Brandon Thornton

Media/Comms Planning Alex Dobson / Jocelyn Reist

Account Team Alyssa Ramsey / Rob Archibald / Heather Morba / Ramiro Del-Cid

Business Affaires Dusty Slowik

Project Management Nancy Rea

Executive Creative Directors Joe Staples / Mark Fitzloff

Head of Production Ben Grylewicz

PRODUCTION

Production Company Biscuit Filmworks

Director Steve Rogers

Executive Producer Holly Vega

Line Producer Vincent Landay

Director of Photography Nicolas Karakatsanis

EDITORIAL

Editorial Company Joint Editorial

Editor Peter Wiedensmith

Post Producer Leslie Carthy

Post Executive Producer Patty Brebner

VFX

VFX Company The Mill

VFX Supervisor Tim Davies

Flame Artist

VFX Producer Will Lemmon

Titles/Graphics

MUSIC + SOUND DESIGN

Music+Sound Company

Composer Ludovico Einaudi

Sound Designer

Song (if applicable) Nuvole Bianche

Producer

DIGITAL / INTERACTIVE

CONTENT TYPE Online Media

LAUNCH DATE 4/5-12/15

DURATION 1.5 weeks

W+K PORTLAND

Creative Director Chris Groom / Stuart Brown

Copywriter Brock Kirby

Art Director Derrick Ho

Producer Jeff Selis

Interactive Strategy Reid Schilperoort

Strategic Planning Andy Lindblade / Brandon Thornton

Media/Comms Planning Alex Dobson / Jocelyn Reist

Account Team Alyssa Ramsey / Rob Archibald / Heather Morba / Ramiro Del-Cid

Executive Creative Directors Joe Staples / Mark Fitzloff

Agency Executive Producer Ben Grylewicz

Digital Designer Rob Mumford

Exec Interactive Producer Patrick Marzullo

Content Producer Byron Oshiro

Broadcast Jeff Selis

Art Buying Amy Berriochoa

Photographer Luke Delong

We’re trying to get some clarification from Grey on this matter, as the agency has been working with the Roger Goodell and crew at the NFL for four years now. But, in the meantime, let’s turn our focus off of Grey for a moment and on to San Francisco-based agency Heat, which has been on radar for some time now mainly thanks to their EA Sports spots (recent Tiger Woods clip above). We’re fairly certain at this point that this isn’t an agency of record assignment, as Heat, which gave us the unforgettable self-promo below, will actually be tasked with handling NFL Network branding and promoting its priority programming including NFL Network’s preseason, GameDay and NFL RedZone programming. There was a review for the account, though we’re still awaiting if there was an incumbent on this biz.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Now that Tiger Woods has regained the top ranking on the pro golf tour, Nike is celebrating its star endorser's comeback with an online ad emblazoned with one of Woods's favorite soundbites, "Winning takes care of everything," along with the word "Victory" next to the company's swoosh logo. The ad has stoked the flames of controversy in social media, with some claiming it sends a bad message in light of Woods's marital infidelities that surfaced a few years back, costing him some endorsement deals, tarnishing his image and threatening to derail his career—not to mention crushing the marriage in question.

There are hundreds of press reports about the ad and countless tweets and comments, all manner of Internet chatter, folks expressing opinions pro and con. Much of the coverage has focused on what impact the ad will have on Nike's brand. That's a fair question, but as anyone who's followed marketing for more than 10 minutes should realize, it's answered almost as soon as it's asked. This is a blip that quickly stirs passions but has no lasting effect. By next week it will be all but forgotten. Nike and Tiger will carry on. (They been here before, of course, when Nike released that rather peculiar Tiger ad following the scandal.)

In a larger and more intriguing sense, the story is a microcosm of the state and price of fame in the digital media landscape. If you start winning in the public eye and achieve some notoriety, you'd better take care and be on your guard about everything, because legions are eagerly watching and waiting and we'll pounce at the slightest provocation. This says a lot less about Woods, Lance Armstrong or other tarnished icons than it does about the rest of us, who live vicariously to varying degrees through such "heroes and villains." Most of us will never experience the life-changing thrill ride of winning and losing on a grand scale, because for whatever reason, we can't commit our whole beings to daunting tasks, athletic or otherwise, and fight through the pain, injury and public pressure to victory. Hell, most of us will never truly win or lose at anything.

So, we cheer on Woods, Armstrong and the rest when they triumph, and weep at their defeats. We damn them when they fall from grace and welcome them back with accolades and big-bucks sponsorships when they've reformed enough for our liking.

In this way, such imbalanced relationships become symbiotic and reciprocal. Tiger and Lance play out high-def dramas with, at times, their careers and livelihoods on the line. We play along on our sofas, remotes in hand, flipping among our thousand channels. Social media intensifies and personalizes the experience. We become actors in their story—mostly in our own minds, of course, but in increasingly more palpable ways than ever before—as commentators and commenters, bloggers, tweeters and pinners. Our input flickers across PC desktops and smartphone screens, shared in real time with thousands, maybe millions, all eager to feel more deeply and understand—if only briefly, and through the exploits of others—what words like winning and everything really mean.